


Two Lovers and a Beachcomber By The Real Sea

by Missy



Category: Laverne & Shirley (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Drama, Family Feels, Flashbacks, Growing Up, Kid Fic, Married Life, Parenthood, Romance, Sexual Content, Spouses Supporting One Another, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29620194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: Laverne has something important to tell Frank, which causes her to both remember how she and Lenny acquired their son and forge a new destiny for herself and her young family.(A sequel to my own Morning Song.)
Relationships: Laverne DeFazio/Lenny Kosnowski
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	Two Lovers and a Beachcomber By The Real Sea

**Author's Note:**

> You can read Morning Song [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29530848)
> 
> Italics, as always, denote flashbacks!

They arrived at Cowboy Bills’ after a two-hour trip, only briefly truncated by their need to use the faculties or change Joey. Laverne felt her stomach tighten as they crossed the landing, Joey snuggled against Lenny’s side.

Lenny – magically reading her mind as he sometimes eerily tended to do - leaned in close and sotto-whispered, “if we make it through this, I’ll do it to you in any time you want, in any way you want, in any position you like, for as long as I can last.”

Laverne grinned. “You wouldn’t lie to a girl about that, Len?”

“No, I don’t think we’re gonna live through this.”

She snorted and prodded him in the ribs. Then her Pop was out of the kitchen, and his arms were around her.

“There’s the peanut!” he said, staring at Laverne, pinching her cheeks – checking the line of her hem and the length of her hair, that she was being fed. Lenny was spared a more critical once-over, but he had Joey as a grandfather-pleasing shield. With a squeal, the baby went to his grandfather and immediately tried to pull off his mustache.

“Sorry, kid, that’s stuck to me,” he said. Then, bouncing Joey as he went, he brought them to a cleared-off table, singing opera the whole while.

Lenny’s hand went to the middle of his wife’s back, rubbing gentle, concentric circles. They moved in unison, the way she did with Shirley, the way she had with Lenny since they were small children. He automatically pulled out a chair for Laverne and sat right next to her, with Joey in front of them on the table, sitting up with Lenny supporting him.

“You want anything?” Frank asked.

“A Coyote Sody,” Lenny said. “You wanna split a pizza, Laverne?”

She nodded. “A Pepsi, and Pepperoni and meatball.”

“I’ll put some green pepper on it,” he said. “You need vegetables.” They listened to Frank yell at Tony the cook for a few minutes.

“We wait ‘til he’s full,” Laverne said. “Then we lower the boom.”

“We ain’t killing him,” Lenny said, playing with Joey’s tiny sneaker-clad feet.

“To him, this’ll be murder,” Laverne said. Lenny sighed at the remark, but he could see what Laverne was driving at. 

“We ain’t killing Grandpa, right Joe?” Lenny asked his son. Joey giggled and reached for Lenny’s face, little hand patting curiously, his blue eyes examining everything before him with new curiosity.

“We should’ve named him Frankie,” Laverne grumped.

Lenny snorted. “Joey was your idea,” he reminded her.

_”I like that,” Lenny had said. They were at Golden Gate Park, Laverne sprawled against Lenny’s side, her hair filled with posies and marigolds and her stomach pointed up toward the sun. They looked like the hippies they almost were after sharing a concert and the summer heat with hundreds of other people. As the sun began to set the crowds were thinning – it was just the two of them._

_“Joseph. Joe. Joey. Nice, simple name, people can’t make fun of him for it.” He plucked a marigold from Laverne’s hair and sat it against his other knee. “Uh. As long as Carmine’s cousin don’t think we named him after him, or that jerk from the softball team.”_

_“Len, we ain’t talked to either of them in years,” she said. “Joey for my mama. I think she’d like it.”_

_“Yeah,” Lenny said – his voice soft and sweet – and kissed the top of her head. “Uh, Squig wrote from Toronto. He did say I owe him ‘half my newborn spawn’ thanks to something I signed in sixth grade…”_

_“We’re not naming our baby Squiggy. Or Andy. He’ll have to deal with it,” Laverne said. Squiggy – heaven love him – had made enough claims on Lenny’s body and time._

_“You sure?”_

_“Yeah,” Laverne replied._

_“Okay,” Lenny said, spine melting in relief._

Frank returned with the drinks and pizza, and Lenny proceeded to bulldoze through the meal while Laverne slowly ate her own three slices. “He’s been getting bigger,” Frank noticed, eyeballing little Joey, who had a fist stuffed in his mouth.

“Yeah,” Laverne said.

“Babies are supposed to do that, right?” Lenny asked. 

“Yes!” Laverne said, poking him, so he wouldn’t go into panic mode. He’d read more books – very haltingly – about parenting than any human being she’d ever met in her life.

“Good,” Lenny said, relaxing visibly.

Laverne shook her head and sighed. Frank rolled his eyes.

“I don’t believe you had a kid with that guy.” He then leaned close to Laverne. “You sure he ain’t a little Italian somewhere?”

“POP!” Laverne growled.

“Relax. The kid couldn’t be more Polish if he came out sucking on a pierogi,” said Frank. “You’re gonna keep leaving Joey alone with him ‘til he goes to school? Lenny oughta be working.”

“Pop, he’s Joey’s dad,” Laverne reminded Frank. “And Lenny’s planning on going back to school to get certified to teach people to drive trucks, when Joey’s older.” The idea of going back to school had been scary enough for Lenny, and he worried a lot that people would discover his imperfect driving record with Shotz, but so far, so good. “Til then, Ajax pays me more than enough.”

Frank glowered and she grumbled. If her pop could’ve seen the way Lenny hovered over Joey’s crib for the first few months of his life, scared out of his mind, he wouldn’t question Lenny’s choice to stay home with the baby while Laverne supported the family at the aerospace plant.

_“What if he thinks I left him? What if he thinks I’m not coming back?” Lenny had asked Laverne, his chin propped in his palm, eyes tired. Joey was just two months old, fast asleep, his little mouth sucking away at an invisible knuckie. Lenny had spent the whole night up watching their son sleep, and though Laverne had appreciated his spacing her for so long, he needed a rest too._

_“Len, you’re in the next room,” she had to remind him, her fingertips running up and down his warm arm._

_“But he don’t know that, do he?” Lenny asked. “My mom…”_

_“…You’re not your mom,” she said immediately. Laverne had spent every birthday he’d survived since he was six trying to cheer him into remembering that. For all of his immaturity, his childishness, she knew that’s what he saw in the mirror some days. His mom._

_“But how do you know, Laverne?” Lenny asked._

_“I know you,” she said intensely. “I know the way you are when you’re with him. You won’t walk away. You won’t hit him.”_

_Then he looked at her, for a long time, with his baggy eyes burning. “How do I like me as much as you do?” Lenny suddenly – so suddenly and impassionedly that she put her arms around him._

_Laverne stroked his cheek, felt his stubble. “Come to bed,” she said. Reluctantly, he did so._

“…And now presenting, the great Joseph!” Lenny said. Laverne looked up from her memories to see Lenny carefully remove his hands, leaving the baby in a self-supported sitting position. All three adults cheered the baby, who squealed and waved his little fists. He managed to stay sitting unsupported for several seconds, and Lenny caught him before he listed backward.

“How longs’ he been doing that?” Frank asked.

“Just a couple of weeks. He’s getting real good at it." Joey blew a spit bubble, popped it, and babbled a long string of mushy words, then reached for Laverne – or, more accurately, her boobs.

“I think it’s lunch time,” Lenny said.

“I’ll go feed him in the ladies,” Laverne said.

“Nah,” Lenny said. “We got boob juice on ice in the baby bag. I’ll go feed him so you can talk to your Pop. ALONE,” he said. But he kissed her check, chucked his chin in the direction of the doorway – he’d be nearby, in case things got too scary.

Frank watched him leave, but quickly turned to Laverne. “What’s wrong? You get kicked out? He cheat on you? Squiggy blow up the toilet again?”

“No, Pop! We’re happy, we’re fine – everything’s OK!” she took a deep breath. “I got great news! Ajax promoted me!”

Frank grinned and squeezed her hands. “That’s wonderful, Muffin! It’d be better news if Lenny had a job and you…”

“Pop,” Laverne growled. 

“All right. So whatt’re you gonna do?”

“They have me heading up the new packaging line for the food they’re gonna send up on the shuttles! I had all the bottling know-how, and I passed the written."

“So what’s the bad news?”

Laverne decided to quickly spit it out. “We’re moving to Florida next month. Can I have more pizza?”

“What?!” Frank exploded instantly. 

“You heard what I said,” Laverne replied. “The promotion’s in Florida. We’ve gotta be there if I wanna work for…”

“…You’re gonna leave the state?” he growled. 

“Yeah, Pop. That’s what kids do – they grow up, they move away…”

“…Which you wouldn’t have to do if that bum would get a job.”

“That ain’t how our house works,” Lenny spoke up suddenly. Every adult eye turned toward Lenny, who had the baby in his arms, was feeding him, near the exit. “Laverne’s making more money that I ever made in my whole life. It ain’t the way I planned it, or how I’d ever thought it would be,” Lenny swallowed hard. “But I’m proud of her, Mr. DeFazio. Every single day of my life I wake up, and I’m proud of her. Would it kill you to be proud of her, too?”

“Hey! I’m always proud of her!” Frank glared at Lenny.

“It’s good news, Mr. DeFazio,” Lenny blurted out quickly. “Laverne’s got a real big promotion with Ajax. They like what she’s doing so much they wanna move her up to their plant in Cape Carnival…”

“…Canaveral,” Laverne corrected. 

“Canalvery,” Lenny mangled the word. “We’ll be able to buy a house after a couple of months, give Joey all the stuff we ever wanted to get for him, all the things we couldn't have or do growing up.” 

“Who needs things when you don’t have family?” Frank asked.

“He’ll always have you,” Laverne said. “I’m you, you’re me, remember?” Laverne wasn’t sure if she honestly felt that way at this point.

“Fine,” he growled. “You leave. You do your job. But if it don’t work out, you don’t come crying to me! Especially with this bum…”

“Bum? Mister DeFazio, I love that woman. I love Joey. If they asked me to lay my life down for ‘em, I would do it,” Lenny said. “Don’t ever say I don’t love them with everything I got in me.” A note of danger entered Lenny’s voice. Laverne looked at him and she could make out his pale skin, the slight sway of him - the barely-suppressed nerves. But he looked and sounded like a guy who was finally doing what he thought he couldn't do - love himself.

And then all at once, Frank grinned. “That! That’s what I wanna see in the man who married my Muffin! Piss and vinegar!” 

Lenny threw Laverne a panicked look and she shrugged. Frank reached for her, hugged her.

“You call me if you need help. You call me every week.”

Laverne promised she would, relief filling her tired soul.

*** 

They reentered the car with a relieved sigh. “Okay, that could’ve been worse,” Lenny said, then plunged the keys into the ignition. 

“You did great, Len,” Laverne said. She tucked Joey against her knee and held him tight as they pulled out of the parking lot.

“I wasn’t gonna let him make you feel bad,” Lenny said. “You worked so hard for so long.”

Laverne looked at her husband as they pointed themselves northward. She remembered, suddenly, when she had fallen in love with him. Sitting on the beach during Squiggy’s goodbye party. Squiggy was avoiding the draft by running away to Canada – a problem Lenny didn’t have to face, having, ironically, been honorably discharged from the reserves and declared F-5 by the draft board thanks to chips in his ankle from his dramatic four-story fall at Squiggy’s hands. Lenny was a little miserable in light of things, a hair tipsy, and they’d gone walking down the shore back to the ice cream truck while the bonfire was still burning. She’d been complaining about her latest ex boyfriend, and Lenny was outraged on her behalf.

_“A small rack? Is he blind? I’d love you if you had no boobs, Laverne. I’d love you if you had one eye, or no hair, or one arm or a leg and no fingers. I like all of you, not just parts of you.”_

_She looked at him in the moonlight. Really watched him, with his growing hair and his beaded vest._

_“You don’t have to look at me like that. I know friends are forever,” he said, with a little resentful roll of the eyes. Which was mean, but fair enough for him to do._

_“Lenny…” she said._

_“What? I know where I belong,” he said._

_She had to leap up to kiss him, but leap she did. The kiss led into a series of kisses. She dragged him behind the ice cream truck, and pinned him there against the side wall, right against the fancy fudgsicle pasted on the truck. Her hands ran amok. So did his mouth. Impulsively, quickly, before either of them could stop and think about the consequences, he yanked aside her panties, she unzipped his fly, and they consummated their desire, right there in the open._

_“Marry me,” Lenny panted, when he was still dripping and she was still throbbing against the silence. “Marry me tonight.”_

_“Len!”_

_“We’ve known each other since we were five! We just proved how good we can be together,” he said intensely. “We’ll have real ceremony at the church later. But I wanna do this now, while Squig’s still here. God knows where Shirl is, I’d wait for her but she’s probably in Mongolia.” Her father would not approve of him - of this - either way. They'd pretend for his sake the church ceremony was the only wedding._

_“This is crazy…” Then she laughed. “You’re proposing to me while you’re IN me.” And this wasn't the Lenny she knew, quiet, soft, pleading, fearful. Losing Squiggy had made him unsure, rudderless - he was grasping on to her and holding on._

_“Crazy makes us better,” Lenny pointed out. “And I can fix that.” Then he fell to his knees, pulling himself free of her. “Let me make you come first. Then we’ll go with Rhonda and Squig to Reno.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Yeah.” Then he pressed his mouth between her legs. “Say something, please.” He said, and the vibration went right to her clit._

_“Yes…GOD yes,” she groaned._

Laverne never figured out if they conceived Joey against the side of the truck or during their honeymoon, but Lenny referred to the battered old ice cream truck as his good luck charm.

She loved him for a thousand more reasons than that night. For the strength he was developing, for his belief in her, for the way he loved their son. For everything.

Lenny’s right hand strayed to her thigh and rested there. They went down the highway, singing “Farewell, Angelina” together under the sound of their son’s burbling, until they were far out of sight from the place where they had begun together.


End file.
